Guillain-Barre syndrome probably wasn't the diagnosis Travis Frederick was seeking for a training camp plague of stingers, but it's an explanation, nonetheless. Also the first step to recovery. Early treatment apparently can play a significant role in mitigating some of GBS' most debilitating, frightening symptoms.

Perfectly natural questions, for which there are no reliable answers now. But if you'd like another pro athlete's perspective, Serge Payer has a story.

Payer played four years in the NHL, two for Florida and two for Ottawa, and was done at 27 in 2007. But even that was more than the 6-0, 191-pound center could have envisioned in 1999, when he was just 19 and playing junior hockey in Kitchener, Ontario.

On Jan. 10, a Sunday, he woke up so weak he could barely get out of bed. He managed the strength to play a game that day, but the next morning was worse. Excruciating lower back pain. Drugs offered no relief. The only thing that did any good was lying flat on his back in a warm tub.

Another pain-filled day passed before he went to the doctor. Five days after that, he was admitted to a hospital. It was another 48 hours before he was diagnosed with GBS.

"You know your body is going through something but no medical team or doctor can tell you what you have," Payer told The Hockey News last October. "The unknown, not being treated and getting worse daily, not feeling your stomach and knowing that you've got to use the bathroom.

"Everything is affected and it's very, very scary."

Looking back, he counted himself fortunate to be diagnosed within 10 days. He spent two months in the hospital and another month in a rehab facility.

It was 10 months before he felt like himself again.

Of course, every case is different, as Payer noted. In fact, his interview with The Hockey News was prompted by reports that Patrick Eaves, a Ducks winger and former Star, showed GBS symptoms in October. Eaves missed the rest of the season. Now recovered and expected to return to action in September, Eaves told Canadian media last month that he was actually the victim of a "post-viral syndrome" unrelated to GBS.

Besides the lower back pain, Payer's symptoms included stiffness in his hip flexor and hamstrings. Eventually it felt like his muscles were tingling. Others report symptoms such as weakness in the feet, hands or arms, progressing to difficulty breathing and even paralysis.

Left untreated, it can lead to nerve damage and worse. According to a GBS website, doctors determined in 2003 that Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose paralysis had been attributed to poliomyelitis, actually had GBS.

Frederick said in a statement released Wednesday that he was "feeling much better from an overall strength perspective" after a couple of treatments and would continue them "over the next few days." Those treatments typically include plasma exchanges and antibodies, according to GBS websites.

In Payer's case, the treatments took five days. Because it was caught early, he said, the only vestige of his condition is numbness in his ankle. According to GBS websites, 85 percent of victims recover eventually.

Just the same, Payer, who started the Serge Payer Foundation to raise funds for GBS research, warned that GBS victims shouldn't try to do too much, too soon. He knows too well. He pushed himself to come back eight months after diagnosis, and because his immune system was still weak, he developed mononucleosis.

Frederick's doctors told him there are no timetables now for his return, and that's sound counseling. Patience is a virtue with GBS, Payer told The Hockey News.

Lying in the hospital for two months, Payer came to another conclusion, as well. One he called "a reality check," as he told the NHL Alumni News in 2014.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT GUILLAIN-BARRE SYNDROME:

Overview: GBS is a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves.

Symptoms: Weakness and tingling in your extremities are usually the first symptoms and typically starts in your feet and legs and spreads to your upper body and arms. Muscle weakness can evolve into paralysis as the syndrome progresses.

Cause: The exact cause of GBS is unknown, but it's often preceded by an infectious illness such as respiratory infection or the stomach flu.

Cure: There is also no known cure, but several treatments can easy symptoms and reduce the duration of the illness. About 80 percent of people fully recover. A general rule of thumb is that one-third of patients usually show signs of recovery within two weeks, the next one-third take four weeks and the final one-third can take up to three months.

Treatment: There are two treatments commonly used for acute GBS. Both are considered equally effective if started within two weeks of onset of GBS. One is plasma exchange and the other is intravenous immunoglobulin therapy (IVIg).

IVIg is easier to administer because it's given to patients through a vein in their arm via an IV.